So you want to do something dangerous

Salam peace, how you all doing prince finds you well and blessed. You know what, I had a realization today that really stopped me in my tracks this time of year, I always end up reflecting not just about Christmas, but actually about a particular TV show that comes on one that I took part in. And you may know it, it's called I'm celebrity, get me out of here. And every time it comes on, I'm like, yeah, what did i Why did I do that? And what was that experience life like? And what was that experience like? So in this video, I'm going to be talking about that. And I'm really sharing this big reflection about what it was like to be on that show.

The little cat down there looks like my cat in Turkey.

So in 2006, I accepted an invitation to go on this TV show, which is from the UK, but was at that time set in Australia, and the Australian jungle. And they offer you lots of money, basically, to have horrible things happen to you. And it really, at the time, I didn't, you know, I didn't want anything to do with reality TV. What is that people letting themselves either be put under duress, or you invite people into your home and you behave in a weird way. And you really put all of your relationships under scrutiny. So these are really sort of dangerous and quite obnoxious.

ways of getting into people's lives and selling TV space. That's what it is. So this invitation came to me. And I wanted to do it, I immediately wanted to do it. And there are a few reasons and I'm going to be absolutely honest about them. One was I had a big debt, and they offer you, Heller, Smith.

So there's different reasons for doing this. One of them is usually that they the cheque they offer is so big that you go what, for two weeks work, and the trip to Australia. At the time, obviously, I wasn't Muslim.

And I was a bit of an adrenaline junkie, who had traveled the world. And, you know, liked new experiences, really not afraid of meeting new people as an actor. So ready to step into some profound experiences. And to step out of daily life as well, I think a lot of these programs do do well and get people to take part because sometimes we want to just step away from our everyday life SubhanAllah.

So I accepted the the potential of the big check. And the thing that they make you do first and foremost is they do this interview, and they sit you down in a room. This is about a month before the show's kicks off. And they say, so what don't you like? What are you afraid of, and they literally get you to list all of the things that you're afraid of, so that they can then manage

and convince the public to put you up for those challenges. So I don't like heights and they don't like spiders. And the thing that I never ever wanted to do. Never was a bungee jump.

So I flew to Australia, and I took part in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. I don't know if you remember it was the year with myelin class and David kest. Who's dead now. And Jason Donovan. Yeah. Jungle Jase, and fake Brown. And I think those are the big names. And of course, Matt from busted. If you're a tea, a teenage girl or a post teenage girl, you'll you'll know who I mean Hamdulillah.

And the reflection I wanted to share about that experience is how exciting it was to put ourselves into difficulties. These days, we live in an environment where for the majority of us, we have for the first time in history, enough heat,

enough clothes, and enough food and enough water. That's that's the majority in

the West, in Europe, I'm aware that a lot of the world does not have that Subhanallah I am talking about those of us who should really consider ourselves spoilt. Not just lucky, let's put the word blessed in here. Allahu Akbar, thank God, when we wake up, and we're in a warm bed, and thank God, when we have a roof over our heads, that doesn't leak. Because otherwise

what we'd like to do is forget about that blessing and go out seeking thrills. So for the first time in history, we've got we've got all of these

Blessings taken care of. So what do we do? We go and put ourselves at risk. Right? Not just me. This is a common trait. What about people who do, you know, endurance running in the Serengeti. So they go from a comfortable space to really testing their bodies. And some of these are huge merit 30 marathons in 30 days, that was Eddie is odd, that famous comedian and actor. And he did 30 marathons for charity in 30 days.

So reflecting upon this, how we are willing to put ourselves into daring situations, you know, there's a lot of these gurus now. And they say, Come and experience walking on hot coals, how the mind manifests manifests your destiny and what you can do. The truth is that Subhanallah human body can withstand a lot. And that the way we think, does shape our daily lives, but it shapes it by the Grace of Allah.

And the tests come from him. And this is what really, really shook me today and really made me remember, I'm a celebrity, get me out of here. Okay.

We're going out seeking these tests, and these thrills and these excitements, but when a test comes in our everyday life, we can fall apart, Allahu Akbar. So we want to go and throw ourselves off high things like Cliff jump, or base jump, or whatever it's called. But if a bill comes in, suddenly was shaken to our core.

And yet on, I'm a celebrity. What we found was every single celebrity comes off it right. And they say, What did they say in the interview? That was the best experience of my life. It was amazing. Now let's look back at what we actually did. I had to do three bungee jumps. Three, I fainted. On the third bungee jump, I actually pass out they weren't all on one day, there were two to two days. I did them in two separate occasions, okay, I fainted. But all I remember is how amazing that was. And the growth, the growth in the people and the teamwork we were forced to experience.

You look at yourself, in that situation, you're like, Okay, who actually am I? And what can I do, and let me push past my normal limitations. And subhanAllah that made me realize the truth, again, of that amazing Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

That Allah only tests those he loves.

Allah tests those he loves.

That takes us to the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. That Allah, the One and Only God, the God of all of us, tests those he loves.

Now, I'm not talking about going on, I'm a celebrity. Because that's not an everyday test. That's something that we choose to partake in, we have a choice. I'm talking about the things that hit us. The things debt in the family, being sick with COVID, first for two months, and not being able to go back to work. These are huge tests. People around the world are going through that haven't had this we've had comfort. We've been able to sit back and we we've been able to sit back and think how easy our lives are Allahu Akbar, Allah test those he loves SubhanAllah. Why?

Well, number one, this life is a test. This is not heaven. This is not the end point. This is just a stopping point between two realities, the pre, the pre dunya, this life and the afterlife. Alright, this is the stopping point. And what we do here, impact their impact on where we go to SubhanAllah. And that same, that same truth,

of pushing ourselves, of being tested of overcoming, and finding the positives in these tests of knowing that they're going to make us stronger, is true for us all. Not just the celebrities who choose to eat bugs, and then feel amazing. After throwing up Admittedly, it's really gross. But then come away thinking, wow, I didn't know I could do that. So whatever test you're having, at the moment, may Allah to Allah make us stronger. May we always remember that what we overcome gives us the equipment for what's to come in the future and we can use it to help others and we can use it to grow in our face. And finally, being stagnant is what gets us depressed. A lot of the celebrities we

might have taken those gigs we take these really tough gigs, these weird ones. Well, yeah for money, but also because maybe we

Feeling a bit stagnant and we want to challenge well guess what? This life is a challenge and we will get to go through it. And every time you reach a hurdle, just you know there was there was a kid song my kids, you can't go under it. You can't go round it. You got to go over it. You got to go. Gotta go through it. No, you've got to go through it. You can't go around it. Can't go under it. You just got to go through it. Yeah. All right. So whatever you're going through, may Allah give you the strength and know you can do this by His grace, make dua

stay strong, and keep thanking Allah for what we have, which is a lot. Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatu. If you like these reminders, don't forget to subscribe below. I'll keep making them for you Inshallah, I want us to, to really find the blessing of this face together. And anything I can do to help by the Grace of Allah, just contact me ask me some questions. I've got sisters group for new Muslims, and we'll link to that below. And we meet every couple of weeks to raise questions that come up. Remember, Allah is our mana Rahim. Most Merciful, the All Merciful The gracious so now